Five-Star Review: Kyrie Irving scores 57 as Cavaliers beat Spurs

GAME OF THE NIGHT YEAR -- CAVS 128, SPURS 125; OR, "KYRIE IRVING ASCENDS TO A HIGHER PLANE OF EXISTENCE" :

Whew. 

OK. Give me a minute. Gotta recover from that one.

Wow. 

OK, let's go. 

So first off ... let's talk Kyrie Irving. 

There are many fine scorers in this league. And not just in this league, historically. We've never seen scorers like Kevin Durant, like Stephen Curry. Like James Harden. But Kyrie Irving is right there in contention for the best scorer alive. He made shots off one foot, with contact, falling sideways. He sliced through four defenders at once. He made huge shots, including the shot to tie the game and send it to overtime with two great defenders closing. 

It was an unbelievable performance: 57 points, 7 of 7 from 3, 20 of 32 from the field, five assists. He singlehandedly brought the Cavs back into the game. No really:

Irving was the factor that the Spurs could not account for. Kawhi Leonard (who we'll get to), could not contain him on switches even when assigned to him, after doing a phenomenal job on LeBron James. Danny Green stuck with Irving, and Irving still torched him. His handle yo-yo'd inside and out as if Irving was using telekinesis. 

His shots were almost never balanced and didn't need to be. He drew contact, finished through multiple defenders, and took over the game. And when the Spurs started to focus on doing everything they could to shut him down ...

LeBron James hit huge shots. James and Irving combined for 88 points on 52 shots, including all 18 of the Cavaliers' points in overtime. It was simple talent over process. The Spurs played their game, tried to stay sharp, and made three key mistakes that cost them the game. Let's see how they got there, though.

The Spurs kept edging away for most of the game, and their offense kept producing shots at the rim and their patented quality looks. The Spurs went up by nine points late in the fourth after a series of Cavaliers isolations resulted in bad shots and turnovers. But the Cavs just kept making shots. That's the secret to this entire thing: The Cavaliers don't make the most of their personnel, but they don't have to, because they're so unbelievably talented. 

And even then, with a three-point lead, Tony Parker isolated for a step-back jumper, missed, but with Kevin Love on the bench (the entire fourth quarter), Leonard boxed James Jones out into the reaches of space and secured the rebound. Three seconds left, Spurs ball, Leonard going to the line. Game over. 

Only not. Leonard, who finished with 24 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, a block and a steal, missed both free throws, and then Irving hit the shot to tie. On the tying shot, the Spurs elected not to foul (problem No. 1) and then Leonard was slow on the switch (problem No. 2) and then took a bad angle to Irving's left hand (problem No. 3). Splash. Overtime, and the Cavs kept hitting shots to win the game, because that's kind of the entire point of basketball. 

With Irving hitting 19 of 30 contested shots (only two of shots were uncontested), there's just not a lot more you can do. Both teams can walk away from this one feeling good, and concerned. The Spurs played well enough to have a three-point lead headed to the line with three seconds to go, but their late-game execution was concerning. They played their style and forced the Cavs to beat them with tough, contested shots by two of the best players in the world.

The Cavs knocked off the champs to continue their hot streak and proved they can put that performance together at any time, but also have to know that they needed that kind of effort to beat the Spurs and that next time, their execution on both ends must be better. 

One thing is sure. If this is the matchup when June comes around, we're in for a treat. 

SETTING THE TONE : LeBron James was up for this one, and he set the tone early with this off-ball cut for the hammer. He was rattling the rim in the first quarter to a crazy degree. 

I'VE PLAYED TWISTER AND GOTTEN LESS TANGLED THAN THIS : I don't even know what Kyrie did here. He moves in and then out and then between and the next thing you know he's at the rim and then he finishes left over Green and just ... wow. 

THIS DUDE IS 38 AND STILL DUNKING ON FOOLS : I don't know whether Duncan cares about any single game anymore, but he sure seemed like he cared about beating James on Thursday. He was into this game, and from the get-go, was bringing it at the rim. 

SHOW-STOPPER : James won the war, but early on, Kawhi Leonard was winning battles. 

END BACK TO BACKS FORVER. ALSO THE WIZARDS STOMPED THE GRIZZLIES : The Grizzies rested Mike Conley, Zach Randolph, Tony Allen and Marc Gasol. In related news, the Wizards destroyed them in the second quarter when Memphis, short-handed in the second of back-to-back road games with its best players out, ran out of all energy and John Wall and Paul Pierce went berserk. 

It was a feel-good win for the Wizards, something to boost their confidence after a rough month, but Memphis basically punted this game. If you have a problem with resting players on national TV games, it's a problem. If you don't, it was a smart move. The game was bad. 

JOHN BE NIMBLE, JOHN BE QUICK, JOHN WALL JUST SLAMMED ON THE TURBO SWITCH: Wall's quickness, agility and speed are really underrated. Watch him just slice through the Grizzlies right there. This final step-through move is killer. 

NOT COOL, KEVIN SERAPHIN : Seraphin gave this flagrant foul 2 to Jon Leuer after getting wrapped up with Jarnell Stokes on the other end. Just a cheap shot and unnecessary in a blowout. He pulls down Leuer's arm which could have seriously injured him. Not OK. 

CHEWING NAILS AND WINNING GAMES, THE PACERS WAY : Indiana knocked off Milwaukee in overtime in a foul-drenched, disgusting, tough as a rusty bucket of nails game to push their winning streak to seven. They're 3.5 back of the Bucks for the 6th seed and on their way. 

Milwaukee actually played really well, Michael Carter-Williams in particular. But Khris Middleton missed a chance at a winner in regulation and just couldn't hang with Indiana's interior play. Luis Scola was huge inside with 17 points, and Rodney Stuckey once again was brilliant with 25 points, six boards, and six assists. Indiana is just hammering teams right now and Paul George isn't even back yet.  

THE TOWER IS STIFLING : Rudy Gobert had a monster game (19 points, 22 rebounds, four blocks) and set the tone early with this massive rejection. 

OH HEY, LOOK, IT'S THE WORST. SHOT. EVER. : No commentary needed:

HOW TO WIND UP ON "SHAQTIN' A FOOL" VOLUME 1 : First Otto Porter was like:

And then Paul Pierce was like: